popped up to baines this afternoon and they are very very nice people there
the end result being the chap popping out and taking out my oil sender to compare with the new one
it was definatly a bit longer but there is no other alternative apart from pre 98 bikes that have a spade conecter
so he checked the depth of the hole/thread and started to screw in the new switch, and it went all the way in. now this has me baffled as when mark and i tried to fit it, it stopped a good few mm short of home.then he went to nip it up with the spanner and the damn switch fell apart leaving the thread down the hole!
i suspect that what me and mark thought felt like threads starting to strip was the switch just starting to brake (there was never any force put onto the switch) and the reason it wouldn't screw home was just that the threads down that far had not been used before.
any way long story short
the chap got the threaded bit out the hole. The very nice man did mention something about another engine rebuild (i wasn't scared) fitted another switch and all is now well
so big up to baines racing

Bloody heck! Broke off in the hole! :o
I don't fancy this new fangled oil pressure switch if they break that easy. At least since it hadn't been tightened down hard the stub would have come out easily. Reminds me of the old 12V Zener diodes that were made of copper and had a torque spec of 4lbft. They would break off if you sneezed when you were tightening them.
I didn't realise that post '98 they have a different connector. I haven't had the one off the ST4s yet but it's definitely made of plated steel. In the event of it needing replaced I'll be off to the motor factor for a suitable match.

Thank god we stopped when we did:saint: It felt as if the threads were about to strip which is why I wouldn't Nip it up.

I thought I was the only one old enough to remember zener diodes:P Made by the one and only JOE LUCAS Prince of Darkness:lol::lol::lol::lol:

tell you the truth marko i dont think he'd even got as far as nipin it up as much as put the spanner on it
and it just went
he seemed to think the most likly explanation was just bad manufacture
i suspect it was starting to go when we tried fitting
and we just got away with it

Bit of luck then:lol:

Glad you got it sorted.BTW did it cure the oil light flickering on and off?

yep